XM Yachting DSC / VHF Fixed Radio

GeorgeLlewellin

GeorgeLlewellin

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The XM Yachting Combined DSC / VHF Fixed Radio is available at www.mailspeedmarine.com for only £99.99.

This seems to have all the attributes that I am looking for at a reasonable price, does anyone have experience of this VHF.

Things I am looking for in modern VHF fixed radios are :-

I don’t want to have to change the volume by selecting the volume item in a menu and then using up or down buttons. If you pause to long then you have to go back to the menu and select the volume item again. It is essential to have a volume control knob.

For the same reasons it is essential to have a squelch control knob.

Channel selection can also be made difficult by having to use a menu and up or down buttons. The channel selection can be by numeric buttons or a rotating knob that can quickly zip through the channels to select the desired one.

Dual watch or the more modern multi watch is very useful.

Thanks George
 
My personal experience. Had one of these nothing but trouble trying to get it to talk to GPS & setting up as did company when i sent it & a second radio they sent me back, had many arguments with them especially when demanding money back 'well it is plastimo after all'. finally got a Navman 7100 no problems ,easy to set up & use well satisfied. best of luck
 
I have had an XM DSC radio for 2 years; the model may have changed but it looks the same in the adverts. Mine has real analogue volume and squelch dials. Channels are changed by rotary knob. So far so good from your spec.

It doesn't have a keypad, which makes entering MMSIs for instance tedious - you rotate the channel knob till the digit you want appears, then press the same channel change knob. If you press when you meant to turn, you got it wrong.
Mine seems to suffer a glitch that others have reported - occasionally it loses position from the GPS so it sounds its very intrusive alarm. Cancel the alarm and a few minutes later it knows where it is. There seems to be no cure.

Apart from that, it seems to be no worse than other DSC sets.
Regards,
Derek
 
We have one and the cotrols are certainly easy to use. It connected to our GPS first time and was fairly OK on first use.

The problem we have had is trying to call someone using their MMSI no. I can call some people and not others. Most frustrating, especially when one of the radios I CAN'T communicate with by MMSI calling is our friends who we cruise in company with most summers...

I have thought about changing the radio to an ICOM.
 
Also consider...

You might also consider the M-Tech MT-500. This has rotary volume and squelch controls, plus an alphanumeric keypad for easier data entry. Only £99 including UK delivery from JG Technologies.

If you're determined to get an XM, it's only £89.50 plus £7 delivery from MarineScene.

The M-Tech looks like this...
mt-500.jpg
 
Re: Also consider...

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty sure I can beat their price, should anyone be after one in the near future.

[/ QUOTE ]That's good to hear! Interested that your website prices are fairly high - do you rely on people asking for a discount? Incidentally, your "YBWF" promo code doesn't seem to be recognised by your website.
 
Re: Also consider...

Thanks for that, the discount code is now fixed. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

One of the reasons for the January Price Challenge is to see who is the lowest for various bits and bobs. We generally dont try to be the cheapest, we are not box shifters; but we do aim high when it comes to service.
 
I have one and it's OK other than the irritating beeping noise it makes if it doesn't speak to a GPS for more than about 10 minutes. I've got mine to talk to one of those cheap "mouse" type GPS units off Ebay OK though.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have one and it's OK other than the irritating beeping noise it makes if it doesn't speak to a GPS for more than about 10 minutes. I've got mine to talk to one of those cheap "mouse" type GPS units off Ebay OK though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you tell us more, make of mouse, pin wiring etc.
Was it a USB one or a serial GPS mouse?

Julian
 
The GPS Receiver I got was a "Haicom". I've had a quick look on Ebay just now and they still sell them but they're a different shape - so take the following wire colours with a pinch of salt! That said, I tried various combinations before I got it right and none of them seemed to do the VHF set any harm!

If it helps, looking at the Mini-DIN connector that joins the cable out of the Haicom to the USB connector,

The colours and pin assignments on mine were:

Pin 1 (orange wire) Not used
Pin 2 (green wire) +ve feed 4-9v
Pin 3 (yellow wire) connect to XM radio "GPS -"
Pin 4 (red wire) -ve feed
Pin 5 (blue wire) connect to XM radio "GPS +"
Pin 6 (black wire) not used


Basically, most of these little GPS "mice" seem to work on between 4 and 8 volts so they will take about 5 volts from the laptop via the USB connector. Two of the wires will therefore be for power. On mine, I just got a battery holder from Maplins to take 4 AA batteries in series. This gives me 6 volts and seems to last forever. Doubtless you will be able to get adapters that will feed it from the boat's 12v supply if you prefer.

Its then just a matter of seeing which two of the remaining wires to connect to the "TX and "RX" on the XM unit. I tried them every which way round and it didn't seem to bother either the radio or the GPS. Eventually, I got the right combination and it just started working!
 
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